Add Reviews to Your Website

How to Add Reviews to Your Website: A Step-by-Step Guide

Online reviews are crucial for building trust and credibility with potential customers.

Adding them to your website can significantly boost conversions and enhance your brand’s reputation.

Let’s walk through the simple steps to get those valuable reviews displayed on your site.

1. Choose a Review Platform

First, select a review platform (or several!) that fits your needs. Popular options include:

• Google Reviews: Great for SEO and visibility. Google Reviews appear in search results, which can drive more traffic to your website and improve your local search ranking.
• Yelp: Ideal for local businesses. Yelp is widely used for restaurant and service reviews, making it perfect for local businesses aiming to attract nearby customers.
• Facebook Reviews: Good for social media engagement. Facebook Reviews can be easily shared and interacted with on social media, helping to boost your online presence.
• G2 Reviews: G2 is the most influential review website for software businesses. On top of collecting reviews, make sure your profile page is updated with your business information.
• Tripadvisor: Companies in the travel and tourism industry should ensure they are listed on Tripadvisor, as travelers often make decision based on Tripadvisor listings and reviews.
• Trustmary: Trustmary is a great choice for any service-based businesses that want to collect and showcase verified customer reviews.

2. Collect Customer Reviews

It’s best to keep more fresh reviews coming in steadily, as people trust recent reviews.

Many companies push off collecting reviews as they are afraid of negative reviews or they trust that customers will write reviews without prompting.

However, these beliefs can be detrimental and a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not many customers leave reviews without asking. And the ones that do are usually unhappy customers.

By not asking for reviews, you end up getting a disproportionate number of negative reviews.

That’s why actively collecting reviews is important.

Encourage your customers to leave reviews by:

• Email Requests: Send follow-up emails after a purchase or experience asking for feedback. Personalize the emails to make customers feel valued and more likely to respond.
• Incentives: Offer discounts or small rewards for reviews. A small percentage off their next purchase or a freebie can motivate customers to leave a review.
• In-Store Prompts: Use signage or receipts to request reviews. Display signs at checkout or print a review request on receipts. QR codes are handy for this purpose.
• Social Media: Ask followers to share their experiences. Post on social media asking satisfied customers to leave reviews and share their stories.

3. Import reviews to Trustmary

While some review platforms provide widgets you can embed on your website, you make your life much easier by implementing one tool that consolidates all your reviews onto one platform: such as Trustmary.

Instead of playing with the Google API, import Google reviews into Trustmary with just your Google Maps location link.

Why should you develop a new widget yourself when you can get customized review widgets in just a few clicks with Trustmary?

After importing all your reviews, you can create a stylish review widget that adapts to your website’s style automatically. Choose which reviews you want to showcase in the widget, and add new reviews to the widget automatically as soon as customers leave them on different platforms.

4. Embed the Widget on Your Site

Next, embed your review widget on your website.

If you know how to copy and paste, you know how to add a Trustmary review widget on your website.

To embed the widget:

1. Copy the Embed Code: Get the HTML code from your widget editor. Ensure you copy the entire code snippet.
2. Access Your Website’s HTML: Log in to your website’s editor view. This can be done through your CMS (e.g., WordPress, Shopify).
3. Paste the Code: Insert the code where you want the reviews to appear. Place it in a section where visitors are likely to see it, such as the homepage or a dedicated reviews page.
4. Save and Publish: Save the changes and publish your updates. Preview the page to make sure the widget displays correctly.

Trustmary’s review widgets work with any website builder.

5. Add Reviews to Homepage

Next question is: where should you showcase reviews?

One of the best places for a review widget is your homepage.

That is the place where people learn about your brand, and where customer stories (social proof) make a great impact.

Try to place the widget quite high on your website – otherwise visitors might miss it.

6. Display Reviews on Product Pages

Another important place for review widgets is your product pages.

Especially when you use review schema (explained later), product pages are a delicious spot for reviews.

If applicable, use reviews that are specifically about the product or service or location that you promote on each page.

Here are some examples:

• If you have a car rental that has multiple locations, showcase reviews for the specific location on each individual landing page.
• If you own a spa that offers different services, make sure to add customer reviews about each specific service to the corresponding page.

7. Create a Dedicated Reviews Page

For better visibility, create a dedicated reviews page:

1. In your website builder, create a new page. This page should be easy to find from your main navigation.
2. Name it something clear, like “Customer Reviews.” A clear title helps with SEO and lets visitors know exactly what to expect.
3. Embed your review widgets on this page. Include reviews from multiple platforms if possible, to show a variety of feedback.
4. Add a link to this page from your main menu. Consider adding a call-to-action (CTA) button on your homepage linking to the reviews page.

When you use Trustmary, you also get your own external profile page that features all your reviews.

As the page is under Trustmary’s strong domain, you will have nice visibility in search engines.

8. Use Schema Markup

Schema markup helps search engines understand your reviews, improving SEO. WIth the review schema markup, Google can showcase a star rating below your link in the search result pages.

Trustmary adds the schema to your widgets automatically.

All you have to do is add a product name in the widget editor. This complements the schema and helps Google showcase relevant reviews in search results.

If you want to check whether Google recognizes the schema, use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.

9. Monitor and Respond

Keep an eye on your reviews and respond promptly.

Luckily, this is easy as Trustmary notifies you of the new reviews you receive on any connected platform.

• Thank Positive Reviewers: Show appreciation for their feedback. A simple thank you can go a long way in building customer loyalty.
• Address Negative Reviews: Respond professionally to resolve issues. Offer solutions or apologies to show you care about customer satisfaction.

Product Reviews vs Business Reviews

Lastly, let’s discuss the difference between product reviews and business reviews.

The first thing that people think when they hear the word “reviews” is usually product reviews. It’s expected that online stores feature product reviews and people like to read reviews about different products.

While product reviews are important, you shouldn’t overlook business reviews.

Even if you don’t need product reviews (e.g. you have a service-based business), you need business reviews.

Business reviews are comments about your company overall: the customer experience, the ease of doing business with you, quality of the service, trustworthiness, and much more.

Business reviews are crucial for any service-based business, but also for online stores and industries that traditionally sell products.

After all, there are very few unique products out there. The chances are that dozens or hundreds of other businesses sell the exact same products as you.

So while product reviews can convince someone to buy a certain product, what convinces people to buy it from YOU?

Exactly. Business reviews.

Trustmary is the best solution for business reviews: from collecting and managing to showcasing them online.

You can test out Trustmary’s features for free for as long as you wish. Make the purchase decision when you are sure.

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FAQ

How do I encourage customers to leave reviews?
Send follow-up emails, offer incentives, use in-store prompts, and ask on social media.

Which review platform is best for SEO?
Google Reviews is highly beneficial for SEO due to its integration with Google search results.

How do I embed a review widget on my site?
Copy the embed code from Trustmary, paste it into your website’s HTML, and save the changes.

Should I create a dedicated reviews page?
Yes, it improves visibility and makes it easier for visitors to find and read reviews.

What is schema markup?
Schema markup is code that helps search engines understand and display your reviews in search results.